Mexican president promises new terminal for capital airport

UNB News

Publish Date - February 11, 2019, 08:54 AM

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In this July 8, 2015 file photo, a plane prepares to land at the Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019 that the country’s main airport will get a third terminal, and promised to refurbish existing runways and modernize the facility. Photo: AP

Mexico City, Feb 11 (AP/UNB) — Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says the country's main airport will get a third terminal.

At an event Sunday he said: "All this space— where there's the presidential hangar, for example, and also the army base_will be converted into a new terminal in the Benito Juarez airport."

He also promised to refurbish existing runways and modernize the facility.

Before taking office Dec. 1, Lopez Obrador held a referendum that scrapped a new, partly-built $13 billion airport for the capital.

He said a military base would be turned into an airport and his administration would encourage more use of the airport in the city of Toluca, which lies about 63 kilometers (39 miles) west of Mexico City.

More than 40 million passengers travel through the Benito Juarez airport each year.